Bajwa Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. Vs Chief Commissioner CT & GST (Orissa High Court)
Orissa High Court has issued an interim stay on a show cause notice (SCN) issued to Bajwa Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017. The SCN, dated January 3, 2025, covers multiple financial years from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.
The petitioner argued that issuing a single SCN for several financial years is prima facie invalid, citing sub-section (10) of Section 74, which prescribes a five-year period for notice issuance from the due date of the annual return for a specific financial year. The petitioner relied on a decision by the Karnataka High Court in Veremax Technologie Services Ltd. v. Assistant Commissioner of Central Tax (2024), where it was held that consolidating multiple assessment years into a single show cause notice contravenes statutory provisions. The revenue, in response, referred to the definition of ‘tax period’ under Section 2(106) of the CGST Act, arguing that the notice was valid. Given the preliminary nature of the challenge and the precedent cited, the Orissa High Court granted an interim stay on the impugned SCN until the next hearing, scheduled for August 5, 2025.
